People with physical difficulties rely on external means to provide motion. The external means vary from physical assistance of another person, to an animal to lift and transport a person with physical difficulties, to electrically and/or hydraulically actuated lifting devices that physically lift and transport the person with physical difficulties.
Conventional control of the electrically and/or hydraulically actuated patient-lifting-devices has included a hand-held keypad controller that includes buttons for up, down, forward, backward and stop movement. The patient-lifting-device is also known as a patient hoist or a lift.